


headfirst, into the abyss

by Slumber



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Wizards, BoKuroo Week 2020, Does it count as a Harry Potter AU if they're not in Hogwarts?, Dragon Tamer Bokuto, Healer Kuroo, Idiots in Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23495953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slumber/pseuds/Slumber
Summary: Bokuto shows up at Kuroo's tent looking like a patchy kind of dalmatian—soot-stained, robe in tatters, a wild kind of grin (the kind dragon tamerswouldwear) plastered on his face. "Hi, you're the new guy, they said there'd be a new guy here.""That's me. I'm the new guy everyone's been talking about." Kuroo bites down on his lower lip, but can't keep the curl of his lips. "You must be the dragon tamer."In which Bokuto is a dragon tamer and Kuroo is the Healer who's always patching him up.
Relationships: Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 14
Kudos: 154





	headfirst, into the abyss

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Bokuroo Week Day 5: Magic](https://bokurooweek.tumblr.com)

The first time Kuroo meets Bokuto he is on the first week of his job at the dragon reserve up north, where he has to take two Floos and a shaky broom ride past warded forest into a secluded island perpetually shrouded with thick gray clouds. He carries with him nothing but a few weeks' worth of clothes, his freshly earned Healing license, and a yearning for adventure (thus, dragon reserve) in relatively safe, measured doses (thus, dragon reserve _Healer_ ).

The first time Kuroo meets Bokuto is the day one of the younger dragons first learns to expel fire instead of breath, but not without expeling quite a lot of soot first. And then some fire, when the dragon tamers handling him tried to help soothe the soot buildup in his draconian lungs.

Bokuto is one of those tamers, and he not only gets a face full of soot for his efforts, but also has the non-fire-resistant parts of his robes singed off. He shows up at Kuroo's tent looking like a patchy kind of dalmatian—soot-stained, robe in tatters, a wild kind of grin (the kind dragon tamers _would_ wear) plastered on his face. "Hi, you're the new guy, they said there'd be a new guy here."

"That's me. I'm the new guy everyone's been talking about." Kuroo bites down on his lower lip, but can't keep the curl of his lips. "You must be the dragon tamer."

"I'm Bokuto!" he says, taking the seat Kuroo gestures for him to take. "I can breathe okay, it's just a little puff of smoke, I just need some water," he adds in between bouts of coughing.

"Oh, you've done this before, haven't you?" Kuroo asks, and this time he doesn't try to stop the quirk of his mouth, the soft snort from his nose.

Bokuto just laughs, hack-coughing some more but taking the teasing in stride, and is guileless when he answers. "Not the first time I've been around a pre-teen dragon getting a little huffy," he says, running a dirty palm through his hair. The fabric around his shoulders have crisped around a burnt-through hole in his shirt, Kuroo notices, and he can see the way thick muscle cords through his bicep just by the movement.

Kuroo yanks his gaze back to Bokuto's face. "Well, you've gotta give me something to do here," he says. "It's my first week and you can't be too good at your job or I'll be _bored_. At a _dragon reserve_."

"If you're quick, I'll come take you to see what they do next," Bokuto promises, leaning forward in his seat to better allow Kuroo to examine him. 

"Thank you, I'll do my best." Kuroo's diagnostic charm should only feel like a tickle, but Bokuto squirms like a five-year-old, wrinkling his nose with a wheeze. It's too arrestingly adorable. "Are you ticklish?"

"Don't tell anyone, they'll use it against me." Bokuto opens his eyes, takes the potion Kuroo offers him, and beams when his coughing goes away. "Like magic!"

Kuroo snorts. "You're welcome. What _do_ they do next? Are we talking about dragon tamers or dragons?"

"It's better if I show you," Bokuto says, hopping out of his seat. After a quick glance at the clock— close enough to the end of his shift that it makes it okay— Kuroo signs out and follows him out. "And I'm talking about the dragons! Dragon tamers aren't _that_ exciting."

Kuroo begs to differ.

* * *

There is a little more blood the next time Bokuto shows up, clutching his arm with a wince as he walks into the tent with a, "That vipertail did _not_ like me trying to give him more food. Who doesn't want to have more food?"

"Aren't they venomous?" Kuroo asks, mildly alarmed. 

"No, no, that's the viper _tooth_ , we don't have any on this— Kuroo." 

"Hm?" Kuroo looks up, and Bokuto's cocked his head like an owl, his brows knit and raised at the same time and his smile kind of helpless. "What?"

"I'm fine," Bokuto promises. "You don't need to tear your potions cupboard apart. Really. I don't need an antidote."

"Oh." Kuroo blinks, and his potions _are_ in mild disarray. "Right. So. Just need something to—"

"Stem the bleeding—"

"Yes, right, that bit," Kuroo says, grabbing for his wand and the bandages and some sterilizing potions. "You're sure it isn't more serious?" 

"It stings a bit, and it sort of won't stop bleeding, but that's all."

"Fourth use of dragon saliva," both of them mutter at the same time. They share a look and chuckle, and it makes Kuroo feel a little better about Bokuto after all.

"Right, then," he says, Summoning the potion he needed to counter the bleeding, examining the wound— a cleaner cut than he'd anticipated but unfortunately deeper than he'd hoped, running from the back of Bokuto's wrist to just below his elbow— and making sure it was cleaned up before he began patching it back up. "It will probably leave a scar," he cautions, thumb grazing over the whisper-white lines of older cuts. "I mean. Another one."

"Occupational hazard," Bokuto says with a light shrug and a brilliant smile. "Besides, I hear chicks dig scars."

Kuroo raises an eyebrow, Bokuto's smile infectious. "You know what, you're right. I bet they do."

* * *

The third time Bokuto needs Kuroo's help, Kuroo is distracted by the fact that Bokuto's hair is down.

Bokuto's hair is down because it's sopping wet— all of Bokuto is, from the gray-streaked hair to the mud-caked boots. 

Bokuto is sopping wet because he'd landed in the pond, and he'd landed in the pond because one of the dragons he'd been handling heard a rustle somewhere and freaked out, catching him by the horned end of her tail and sending him flying.

"Then why are you—"

"I think I landed on something."

"Oh!" Kuroo notices it too late, the way he's cradling his right arm— his right wrist, really— and how the fingers hang limp at an unusual angle. "Shit, sorry, take a seat, let me—"

It's a sprain, and it's easy enough to fix— but not magically. Kuroo casts a charm to stem the swelling, another one to numb the area briefly, but the healing itself will need to happen naturally. 

"Three weeks!" Bokuto protests, his face crumpling with disappointment. "But—"

"Maybe less," Kuroo says. "If you take care of it right. It could've been worse, but I think you'll be fine before you know it." 

"What am I supposed to do until then," Bokuto asks, shoulders drooping the same direction the corners of his lips do. 

"Well. Right now you've got to dry up or you'll catch something." He is still sopping wet, but the sprain needed immediate attention. Kuroo gestures at the clothes, soaked all the way through and dripping all over his floor. "If you can take those off I can get you a towel."

Bokuto's still trying by the time Kuroo finds a spare towel, but the injured wrist has made it harder for him to maneuver around it, so Kuroo taps him on the shoulder, telling him to keep his arm down while Kuroo pulls the shirt over Bokuto's back, reaching where Bokuto with his injury can't, careful with his own movements. 

"You're snorting. Why are you snorting!" 

"Sorry, I—" Kuroo bites down on his lower lip but the giggle comes out anyway. Helpless, he gestures at the clean, deep lines that burn Bokuto's shirt white against the sun-exposed tan of the rest of his skin. "Look. You're still wearing a shirt." 

Bokuto groans, grabbing for the towel and covering his chest with it. "I know, I know, it's an occupational hazard, okay, geez, way to make a guy feel great," he grumbles, but his eyes crinkle up in laughter too, bright and sheepish and so devastatingly gorgeous Kuroo can't help saying: 

"You should come over here if you're ever bored. I could use the company some days too."

* * *

Kuroo only half-expects Bokuto to take him up on that offer, but a little after lunch the next day a familiar face pops in.

"Oh no," Kuroo says, scanning Bokuto for any new injuries. "What did you do this time?"

"Wha— you said I could come by if I was bored!" 

"Oh! I did, didn't I. But— already?" Bokuto shrugs, scuffing his toe against the floor, and Kuroo quickly changes track. "Well, I guess it makes sense when you'd otherwise spend your day with dragons, huh? Can't say I do anything _fun_ here, but…"

Bokuto takes the seat next to him, peering curiously at the potions he was organizing. "What _are_ you doing?"

Kuroo clears his throat. "Yaku and I have a long-standing discussion about how to order the potions in here. He's out for a couple of days so I'm—"

Bokuto chuckles. "You're gonna piss him off," he says cheerfully, even as he starts helping Kuroo.

"Would be worth it, though." Kuroo grins. "But that'll be nothing compared to what he'll do once he realizes I've moved all of the drinks in the staff fridge by one place to the right."

"Oh, you're _evil_!" Bokuto crows.

"I haven't actually done that yet, but—"

"Done!" Bokuto promises, and it marks the beginning of a beautiful three weeks during which the pair of them wreak mild, light-hearted havoc across the reserve. Konoha's shampoo is switched out for hair dye, Lev's living quarters are rearranged in exact reverse of its usual, Washio's robes are turned inside out.

On Bokuto's last day off-duty, after Kuroo carefully examines his wrist and pronounces it fit for a return to action, Akaashi takes a look at them both and sighs with relief, saying, "I can't believe we've found a place where Bokuto-san was an even bigger menace than out with the dragons."

"Hey!" Bokuto says, just as Kuroo replies with, "Thank you." They pause, sharing a look, and burst out in laughter.

"Don't forget we're grabbing dinner later," Bokuto reminds him before he heads out.

"I'll be there," Kuroo promises, waving him off. He doesn't stop grinning even long after Bokuto's gone.

Beside him, Kenma hums.

"Oh, be quiet."

* * *

"Do you want to see something cool?" Bokuto asks one day, and he's never disappointed, so Kuroo says, "Yes, _obviously_ ", and that's how he finds himself peering over the enclosure, eyes wide, at a litter of dozing dragon hatchlings. 

"Whoa," he breathes out. 

"They're cool, right?"

" _Super_ cool." Kuroo frowns. "Aren't mother dragons—"

"She's off hunting, but she'll be back, but that's why we gotta stay pretty far," Bokuto says. "They get very protective."

"Hunting?" Kuroo asks.

Bokuto nods. "It's part of their instincts, so we let them hunt after they've given birth. It's rare, but she was already pregnant when we got her."

"I wondered about that." One of the hatchlings rolls over, baring toothless maw with a little dragon yawn, a puff of smoke coming off its snout. "Don't they start breathing fire later?" he asks, remembering the first time he met Bokuto, and why.

"Yeah, but some of them get like this pretty young," Bokuto explains. "It's just smoke, will be for a while. Fire's always in there, you know, but just a simmer 'til it builds up enough to have to get out."

"Ah, puberty," Kuroo says, nodding sagely. This earns him a snicker from Bokuto, whose face scrunches, shoulders shaking with mirth that turns into a full-body laugh. Kuroo cracks a smile, turning to Bokuto to say more, but the words catch in his throat, the sight sears into his mind, something that feels like flint striking steel sparking low in his belly. _Ah,_ he thinks, swallowing hard. 

Bokuto glances up at the sky thoughtfully. "Mm, we better go."

"Yeah?" Kuroo asks at the same instant he hears the unmistakable flapping of wings approaching from the distance. He jerks in surprise, taking an instinctive step back, but his foot lands on something uneven and throws him off-balance. Before his back hits the ground Bokuto's there, grabbing him by the arm and around the waist. 

"Hey hey hey, watch out," he says, golden eyes wide. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just— tree root, I think." Kuroo feels the flush (of embarrassment, _embarrassment!_ ) spread across his cheeks, leaving heat in its wake. He takes hold of Bokuto's arm to find his footing again, glancing down at Bokuto when he finds he's a little reluctant to let go. "Shouldn't we— uh— go?"

"Yeah, right!" Bokuto says, guiding them both out of the enclosure, down a path different from the one they came in from. "Be careful, yeah?" he says, not quite fully extricating himself from Kuroo, palm warm on his low back. "This ground's a lot less even over here."

"I'm watching my steps," Kuroo mutters, cheeks hot. 

"Yeah, well, I can't have my favorite Healer out of action because he broke a foot to come see baby dragons with me. The guys would never let me live down a date that disastrous!"

"Your _favorite_ Healer, huh— wait." Kuroo almost trips again, whipping his head back to look Bokuto in the eyes.

Bokuto grabs Kuroo by the arm in time. "Told you to be careful," he mumbles, the tips of his ears bright red. 

"Was that—"

"It is, still is, we're not done yet," he says. He meets Kuroo's gaze, the shine in his eyes honest and warm. "If you're— if you'd like."

Deep in his stomach, the spark catches, striking up a flare of heat that rises to his throat, spreads his mouth wide to a brilliant grin. "Yeah," he exhales, a little giddy. "I'd like."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for making it here! Kudos and comments are always appreciated! ♥ I've also written [other Bokuroo fics](https://archiveofourown.org/works?utf8=%E2%9C%93&commit=Sort+and+Filter&work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=revised_at&include_work_search%5Brelationship_ids%5D%5B%5D=2226001&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bexcluded_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bcrossover%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_from%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_to%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_from%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_to%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=&pseud_id=Slumber&user_id=Slumber) if you liked this one, but if you would like more magical Bokuroo, try [this super adorable one by xRinsexRepeatx](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18320399)!


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